Fact-check log
Every claim on this site was checked against a cached copy of a named page on 14 November 2026. Regexes have to match the source text. Where two good sources disagree, the disagreement stays visible.
Did Western dominoes develop independently?
Britannica Kids says Western dominoes probably developed later, independently from the Chinese version, in Italy or France in the 18th century. Pagat treats Chinese tiles as clearly ancestral, or at least presumably ancestral, and notes a debate over whether the European set came from China in the fourteenth century or later, or was invented independently. Dummett, as quoted on Pagat, dates the European introduction to Italy, possibly Venice and Naples, in the 18th century. We report both wordings and do not pick a single origin story as the last word.
How many tiles does each player take?
Britannica Kids, describing a simple block game, says each player then draws seven dominoes. Pagat's representative block deal on a double-six set is seven tiles for two players, and five each for three or four. Its representative draw deal is seven each for two or three players, and six each for four. Pagat also lists "different numbers of tiles in the hands" as a common variation. Seven each is one usual deal, not the only one.
How is a hand scored, and what is a game?
Britannica Kids says the winner is the player who goes out, or who has the fewest spots left, and that one player's score is the number of spots on the opponent's unplayed dominoes; a game may be 50 or 100 points. Pagat's representative block and draw rules credit the lowest-scoring player with the sum of the losers' pip totals minus that player's own total, and play a game to 100 points (two players or a partnership) or 61 (three or four), so a cribbage board can be used. Pagat also records early accounts in which a win is just 1 point, and many other local scoring methods. We treat Pagat's representative rules as one clear system, not the only system.
Where does the word "domino" come from?
The Pagat history page gives two accounts on the same page: that the word is most likely from Latin dominus, and later came to name the [1-1] tile; and that "Domino" is French for a black and white priest's hood, which is probably where the name of the game derives from. Those are not quite the same story. We leave both in view.
| Claim | Source |
|---|---|
| Western dominoes of this type appeared in Europe in the 18th century and are now familiar in most parts of the world, most often as a double-six set in which each end of each tile has from zero to six spots. | pagat.com, Domino Games |
| The set contains 28 tiles, one from each pairing of the numbers 0 to 6. | pagat.com, Domino Games |
| The double-nine set of 55 tiles, containing all possible pairs of numbers from 0 to 9, has been around since the early 20th century at least. | pagat.com, Domino Games |
| Larger sets have become popular for some North American games, notably Mexican Train, which uses a double-twelve set of 91 tiles. Double-15 sets (136 tiles) and even double-18 sets (190 tiles) can also be found. | pagat.com, Domino Games |
| Chinese dominoes are thought to have originated in the 12th century and are presumably the ancestors of Western dominoes, though the exact relationship is obscure. | pagat.com, Domino Games |
| On a Chinese set the ends show spots from 1 to 6, corresponding to the throws of two six-sided dice. There are 21 different tiles, but the set contains two copies of the 11 tiles of the "sky" suit, so there are 32 tiles in total. | pagat.com, Domino Games |
| Traditionally the 1 and 4 spots are red, as are half the spots of the double 6, in Pagat's wording on that page (the page itself writes "Tradionally"). | pagat.com, Domino Games |
| Tile games have been found in China as early as 1120 CE, according to the Pagat history page. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| The Chu sz yam (Investigations on the Traditions of All Things) stated that dominoes were invented by a statesman in 1120 CE, presented to the Emperor Hui Tsung, and circulated abroad by imperial order during the reign of Hui's son, Kao-Tsung (1127-1163 CE). Other interpreters say that this document refers to the standardization and not the invention of the game itself. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| Michael Dummett, in The Game of Tarot, dates the introduction of dominos in Europe to Italy, possibly in Venice and Naples, in the 18th century. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| Although domino tiles are clearly of Chinese inheritance, Pagat notes a debate over whether the European tile set came from China to Europe in the fourteenth century or later, or was invented independently. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| A single domino was found with the Mary Rose wreckage (early 16th century), but Pagat says it seems likely to have found its way there much later. If dominoes had existed in the 16th and 17th centuries, the page argues, they would not have escaped the record. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| European dominoes are rectangles that are twice as long as they are wide. There is a single tile for each combination of the faces of a pair of dice; the blank suit is the throws of a single die, for a total of twenty-eight tiles in the standard double-six set. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| Other sets with larger numbers of tiles were invented later, with the double nine and double twelve sets being the most common extensions, in Pagat's history wording. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| On the same history page, Pagat says the word "domino" is most likely to be derived from the Latin dominus (the master of the house), and that the word first referred to a monastic hood, then a hooded masquerade costume with a small mask, then the mask itself, and finally to one of the pieces in the set, namely the [1-1] tile. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| Later on the same page, Pagat also writes that "Domino" is French for a black and white hood worn by Christian priests in winter, which is probably where the name of the game derives from. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| The game moved from Italy to France in the early 18th century and became a fad. By the late 18th century, France was also producing domino puzzles. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| The game arrived in Britain in the late 18th century from France (possibly via French prisoners of war) and quickly seems to have become popular in inns and taverns at the time. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| Domino games are played all over the world, but they are most popular in Latin America, according to the same Pagat history page. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| Many of the games we associate with dominoes are quite modern. The block games seem to be the oldest of the European games. But Muggins dates from the early 20th century. | pagat.com, History of Dominoes |
| Block is the simplest and probably the most common domino game, in Pagat's wording. Most of the tiles are dealt to the players, and the tiles that remain in the boneyard are not used. | pagat.com, Block Dominoes |
| On a double-six set, Pagat's representative block deal is: 2 players get 7 tiles each; 3 players get 5 tiles each; 4 players get 5 tiles each. The rest stay in the boneyard and are not used in the round. | pagat.com, Block Dominoes |
| Players take turns placing tiles on either end of the train. Doubles are played across the line, but are not spinners. A player who cannot play passes. | pagat.com, Block Dominoes |
| The round stops when one player plays their last tile or when nobody can play. The lead for the next round passes to the previous leader's left. | pagat.com, Block Dominoes |
| At the end of the hand, each player gets the total number of pips in his hands. The lowest scoring player is the winner and is credited with the sum of the scores of the losers, minus his own total. If there is a tie for lowest score, then nobody gets a score. | pagat.com, Block Dominoes |
| The game is played for 100 points in a two player or partnership game, and for 61 points in a three or four handed game. This convention allows a cribbage board to be used for keeping scores. | pagat.com, Block Dominoes |
| Pagat lists variations, including different numbers of tiles in the hands, and determining the lead by requiring that the highest double be led first. | pagat.com, Block Dominoes |
| Draw takes its name from the rule that allows players to draw new tiles from the boneyard. Pagat describes it as one of the simplest and most common domino games, played in a dozen different ways, and offers one representative set of rules. | pagat.com, Draw Dominoes |
| On a double-six set, Pagat's representative draw deal is: 2 players get 7 tiles each; 3 players get 7 tiles each; 4 players get 6 tiles each. The rest stay in the boneyard. | pagat.com, Draw Dominoes |
| Players take turns placing tiles to form a single line. A tile can be placed on either end of the line. Doubles are played across the line, but are not spinners. | pagat.com, Draw Dominoes |
| A player who cannot or does not wish to play a tile from hand must draw from the boneyard. The player continues to draw tiles until either he plays a tile or the boneyard is reduced to two tiles. | pagat.com, Draw Dominoes |
| The last two tiles of the boneyard are not drawn, and when the boneyard has only two tiles a player who cannot play simply passes his turn. | pagat.com, Draw Dominoes |
| The hand stops when one player dominoes or when the boneyard is reduced to two tiles and nobody can play. | pagat.com, Draw Dominoes |
| Scoring in Pagat's representative draw rules is the same as in the representative block rules: each player is counted for the pips in hand; the lowest scoring player is credited with the sum of the losers' scores minus his own; a tie for lowest scores nobody; the game is played for 100 or 61 points. | pagat.com, Draw Dominoes |
| Early accounts, Pagat notes among the scoring variations, specify that the winner of the game — the player who goes out or has fewest remaining pips in a blocked game — scores just 1 point for a win. | pagat.com, Draw Dominoes |
| A common method is for the winner to score the total pips on the tiles of the other player(s). | pagat.com, Draw Dominoes |
| Nobody is sure where or when Chinese dominoes came into existence, but they were reported by European travelers during the Renaissance and are still popular in Asian countries today. | pagat.com, Chinese Dominoes |
| According to Andrew Lo, the earliest extant manual on dominoes is by Qu You (1347-1433), who wrote the "Xuanhe paipu" (manual of dominoes in the Xuanhe period 1119-1125). | pagat.com, Chinese Dominoes |
| Xie Zhaozhe (1567-1624) mentions the legend of their invention in 1112. Even if these and various other references to 12th-century play are not to be trusted, they must certainly have been in use well before the early 15th century, when the first of these books was written. | pagat.com, Chinese Dominoes |
| There is no direct historical connection between Chinese dominoes and mah-jong tiles. Mah-jong tiles were developed in the 19th century as a more durable form of money cards. | pagat.com, Chinese Dominoes |
| Unlike Western dominoes, there are no blank tiles in Chinese dominoes. The Western set has 28 tiles in the standard double-six set; the Chinese set has 32 tiles. | pagat.com, Chinese Dominoes |
| Following the convention of Chinese dice, the one pip and the four pip are always coloured red. The other pips are all coloured white, except for the double six. | pagat.com, Chinese Dominoes |
| The tiles are longer and narrower than the "double square" shape used in the West. They have no dividing bar in the centre to separate the two ends. | pagat.com, Chinese Dominoes |
| Chinese dominoes are always flat faced and can be stacked. Western games leave the tiles loosely spread on the table in a "boneyard"; Chinese games build a "woodpile" by stacking the tiles. | pagat.com, Chinese Dominoes |
| Britannica Kids says the usual set consists of 28 dominoes: flat, rectangular blocks made of bone, wood, or plastic. The 28th piece is the double blank. | Britannica Kids (Students), Dominoes |
| Two basic forms of the game, in that Students article, are block and draw. | Britannica Kids (Students), Dominoes |
| In the block game as that article sets it out, each player then draws seven dominoes and sets them so that opponents cannot see the spots. | Britannica Kids (Students), Dominoes |
| The player must match the open end of a domino already played. | Britannica Kids (Students), Dominoes |
| Draw is similar to block except that when a player is blocked the player draws from the reserve until a play can be made. The last two pieces in the stock, or boneyard, may not be drawn. | Britannica Kids (Students), Dominoes |
| One player's score, in that article, is the number of spots on the opponent's unplayed dominoes. A game may be 50 or 100 points. | Britannica Kids (Students), Dominoes |
| Britannica Kids says Western dominoes probably developed later, independently from the Chinese version, in Italy or France in the 18th century. | Britannica Kids (Students), Dominoes |
| The same article says the game of dominoes began in China around the 12th century. | Britannica Kids (Students), Dominoes |
| Among the variations it names are matador, which involves presenting a number that will total seven when added to an end, and muggins, in which the goal is to make the total of the open-ended pieces in the layout a multiple of five. | Britannica Kids (Students), Dominoes |